La diagonale du fou

"Dangerous Moves" is a French film that in some ways is a fictionalization involving the chess champ, Bobby Fischer mixed with some Cold War dramatics. The film is about a long-anticipated match between a Russian Grand Champion (Liebskind) and a Russian expatriate Grand Champion (Fromm). Liebskind is older and ill--and he and the agents from his country are trying to hide this from everyone. Fromm is a nut-case (like Fischer)--very, very, very demanding and amazingly neurotic. Neither man likes the other and due to Fromm's weird antics, it's not even certain that the match will take place. And, when it does, both players threaten to derail it repeatedly.

The film is an interesting character study of two seriously disturbed and difficult to like men. I appreciated this, as most films feature more one-dimensional and predictable characters. However, many will blanch at the film's slow pacing and that so much of the film takes place at the match--making it a hard-sell to most viewers--plus there is no hero to root for--just two very determined oddballs. It is very good but also for a very narrow audience. Worth seeing, though, if you are very patient or have a background working in mental health. Otherwise, there might just be some better French films you might want to see first.

"La Diagonale Du Fou" is notable as one of the only two Swiss films to ever take home the Academy Award for "Best Foreign Language Film". It is also notable as being one of only a handful of films about chess which, apparently, is not considered the most cinematic "sport", although with the right director it can be. Richard Dembo may not have been that director: his film is perfectly watchable, but not as exciting as it should / could have been. Unsurprisingly, the brightest moments involve the actual chess games; most of the other stuff (the wise old pro and the rebellious young upstart, the neglected wives, the Cold War tensions, etc.) we have seen before, in different surroundings. The little-known Alexandre Arbatt holds his own against the well-known Michel Piccoli; Leslie Caron receives third billing but is largely wasted; Liv Ullmann fares a little better. **1/2 out of 4.

Hey, I'm sure there's a way to make chess somewhat exciting in a movie, but this approach ain't it.

Dangerous Moves won an Oscar for best foreign film and has an impressive cast, but it was strangely kind of a bore to watch; even enough to feel like it was a bit of a challenge to finish. There's two people who are rivals and they play chess and there are good actors and they are kind of wasted. That's all there is and now I'm sleepy.

I guess there's a level of basic competency on offer in Dangerous Moves, but that's not enough to make it good, or even passable. It's more of a Dangerous Snooze, really.

I saw this film when it came out in 1984, and since then, have been unable to forget it. I have been looking for it everywhere, from shops to the Internet without success. It seemed to have disappeared from the surface of the Earth. Finally, ARTE, a French/German TV channel, decided to broadcast it two months ago...and of course, I recorded it. It is based around a very simple storyline. A chess match. The two main players in the world. Both russians. Two generations fighting against each other, and also two visions of the world. The oldest generation who stayed and endured the last 50 years of Russian history. The younger one who left, but not unscathed. For them, only one thing matters : Chess, but for the outside world, and their entourage, many other things come into account: propaganda, money etc... From the actors to the plot, I cannot find any default with it. It is soberly and superbly played by Michel Piccoli (it is probably the only film where I really liked him) and the whole cast is a marvel. To be seen absolutely !!!

Disputing the world title of chess, sit down in chairs opposite two soviets. However, none of the two is Russian: one of them, the champion, is Jewish. The other, the challenger, is a Lithuanian, political exile that is refugee in another country. This game will be a mirror of the Cold War: each movement is dangerous, each play is strategically important. Who is the best? The communist Jew, obedient to the Soviet state, or the Lithuanian traitor, enemy of the proletarian revolution? A beautiful end, where the game in itself has, for both, a larger importance than the world title and they consequences. A good film, with reasonable tension, great representative of the rare Swiss movies.